Do schools kill creativity?

I am not creative.  There, I said it.  Now…I am not creative.  Strike that – after 30 plus years I realized that I AM creative.  Why the change?  My definition of creativity was challenged and I gained a new perspective.

I was amazed how difficult it was to find a definition for creativity when I started writing this post.  Webster defines creativity as the ability to create or the quality of being creative.  What does that mean?  So I went further to find the definition for create which Webster defines as to invest as a new form or to produce through imaginative skill.  Still not the greatest or easiest way to define creativity.  Wikipedia defines it as mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts, fueled by the process of either conscious or unconscious insight.  This, I thought, was much closer.

My definition of creativity used to be coming up with original and new ideas (typically in the form of art and design).  I could not draw, paint or design something “artsy” therefore I was not creative.  I did come up with an invention in 7th grade that won a contest.  It was snow shovel that had a button on it when pushed would melt the ice and snow.  This was a practical solution so I never thought of that as a creative idea.

Somewhere along the way my creativity was hindered.  Traditional schooling meant that there were right and wrong ways of doing things.  It also meant there was usually only one way of doing things.  Over the years I have realized that there are multiple perspectives and different ways of doing things to arrive at the same solution or even better…a different solution.  More recently, with the help of others pointing it out to me, I have determined that I am creative.  I have a new definition for creativity:  the ability to problem solve in ways that are not traditional.  Now creativity is something we can teach and cannot be dismissed as something that we don’t have.

The video below inspired this post but also is great support for our school’s philosophy.  We can not possibly know what the world will look like when our children hit adulthood and what the needs will be.  If we teach them to think critically, problem-solve and be creative, they will be much more prepared for the unknown.  And isn’t part of the formula for success the ability to thrive in the unknown?

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

How do you foster your childrens’ creativity?  How are you killing it?

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